The Child That Was Never Stolen
by Scarlet Raven
Summary: Jareth couldn't abandon Sarah, even if it cost him his life. But years later, the child that was never stolen will seek revenge on the child of Jareth's beloved Sarah, and a young girl will once again find herself fighting to solve the labyrinth.
1. Chapter 1

To understand this story, you must first understand that the worlds of magic, such as the world of goblins, are governed by certain rules. For example, no creature from the worlds of magic may cross over freely into the world of mortals. Although, one may crossover for a short period of time but it requires the help of a mortal. Help, let's say, in the form of a wish.

However, there is always a loophole. There exists within each world one being with the power to crossover into the world of men. But these rules exist for a reason, just as a human child cannot live within the world of goblins without eventually becoming a goblin, so one from the world of goblins cannot stay longer than thirteen hours without irreparable damage. Even if he is a goblin king.

It just so happens that at midnight on November 1, 1990, a Mrs Sarah Fischer gave birth to a healthy baby girl after thirteen hours and twelve minutes in labour. Holding her right hand was her husband and high-school sweetheart James Fischer. But cloaked in shadows, unnoticed, Jareth, King of goblins held her other hand for thirteen hours and twelve minutes. He stayed only one minute longer, long enough to hear his beloved Sarah whisper her baby's name: Elspeth.

With his failing strength, he staggered back into his world, into the Castle in the centre of the Labyrinth, beyond the goblin city to see the one child that he never stole.

His five-year-old son ran to him and clutched at his side.

"Jerrin," he whispered, before falling to his knees.

"Father!" the young boy cried out in alarm.

"I was so afraid she wouldn't make it, I didn't want to lose her the same way I lost your mother. But she is strong, just as her mother was, just as her daughter, Elspeth, will be." Jareth groaned and clutched at his stomach. "I'm….afraid… I spent too much… time in the mortal world."

"Father…" The boy whimpered.

"Please… you must… watch over her… protect… my Sarah…" With sudden strength, he grabbed the boy' shoulder painfully tight. "Promise me you will protect her!"

"I promise!" The boy swore.

He let his hand drop and his son struggled to support his weight as he slumped backwards.

A shadow of a grin passed across his face. "I promised I would leave her be," he whispered. "But I couldn't forget her. Even when she was giving birth to another man's child, I couldn't forget…" He held up a crystal ball. "I offered her her dreams, now I ask you for the same. My son please, let me sleep with dreams of her."

His son reached forward and took the crystal. "Rest well, father." He let his power flow into the crystal.

Jareth's reflection in the crystal became stronger and clearer until the goblin king had been absorbed into the crystal. Inside the crystal, Jareth slept with a smile on his face.

The young boy looked up, a single tear flowed from his crystal blue eyes. He caught it in his hand and it formed into a crystal flower. He looked into its centre and watched the visage of the twenty year old Sarah and her newborn daughter. "Don't worry father," he whispered. "I shall protect your Sarah, but not her daughter." He narrowed his eyes and hissed at the reflection of the baby. "Elspeth..."


	2. Chapter 2

Elspeth looked so much like her mother. At sixteen, she had already reached her mother's height and had the same soft facial features of her mother. Her hair was dark like her mother's the only difference being that she wore it only to her shoulders and it was wavy like her father's hair. She also shared her father's eyes of mysterious grey with flecks of blue. But for all the visible features she shared, she was truly nothing like her parents.

Her mother spent most of her time with her head in the clouds, not a bad pastime for a writer of children's fantasy, but still Elspeth often wondered if she lost touch with reality too often. Take that story about the goblin king for instance, for most of her childhood, Elspeth had believed her, she had believed it as most children believed in Santa Clause. But when she was asked to write a short essay on a modern day hero or villain in the seventh grade and she had chosen to tell the story of the goblin king, her teacher had cut her down and mocked her most cruelly.

It was in that moment standing in front of her class that Elspeth had realised the horrible truth; there was no such thing as magic, the world was exactly as it appeared. Such stories were only made up so as to entertain children and teach them to behave. Don't wish for something unless you truly want it and are willing to take the consequences.

Elspeth loved her mother, but she couldn't forgive her for such deception. Her mother would never admit that the Labyrinth wasn't real, even when she found the short story her grandmother had written about it. Sarah had simply looked at Elspeth with sad eyes and said, "the Labyrinth is real, I would not be who I am if it were not."

It was at this point that Elspeth's father, James, had put his arms around his wife, and Elspeth realised that he, too, believed in it.

Elspeth loved both her parents, but they were foolish. Elspeth believed in what she could see, what she could prove. Elspeth was in the eleventh grade now, and she excelled in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. When she finished school, she intended to continue to study these subjects at university because science was something she could see and believe with her own eyes. But this made life harder too, because it meant that Elspeth always had to accept reality, she couldn't hide behind beliefs in magic or in a God to protect her from the awful truth.

Her mother was going to die.

Earlier that day… 

Elspeth had finished school early that day. Exams began tomorrow, but unlike her classmates, Elspeth was already well prepared and revised. So unlike her classmates, who had rushed home to cram as much material as possible before the exams, Elspeth had decided to take a walk through the park with the family dog, Ambrosius. Ambrosius, like most of her childhood pets, got his name from a character in the Labyrinth. However, Elspeth could not fault him for it, he was a big hairy mutt whose tongue lolled out adorably most of the time.

After dragging Elspeth halfway through the park, Ambrosius was set free to do what Ambrosius did best: wreak havoc on the local duck population and make as much noise as he could.

Elspeth sighed and settled down on a park bench to listen to the indignant squawks of birds, her dog caused in his enjoyment.

"Lively mutt, isn't he?"

Elspeth jumped up to find the most gorgeous guy leaning on the bench just behind her.

"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." He chuckled. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties and he had a slight accent. English, perhaps. He was tall and slender, with long white-blond hair tied back in a ponytail and piercing blue eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?" Elspeth realised her mouth gaping open and she was staring. "Oh yes, you're fine -I mean- everything's fine!" Elspeth quickly sat back down again, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Mind if I join you?"

"S-sure."

The boy jumped over the back of the seat and sat down beside her.

Elspeth could feel herself turning pink. To the boys at school, she was a science nerd, and they were just schoolboys. This guy looked old enough to be in university, he seemed mature. The fact that he was talking to her was incredibly unexpected. She should say something.

"So what brings you here?" She asked lightly.

"You."

Elspeth looked at him, sharply. "Excuse me?"

He grinned. "I mean, I was walking through the park and there's like no one about and then I saw you walking that huge mutt. Thought I'd come over and say hello."

"Oh." She laughed nervously. "So are you from England?"

"Not England, where I come from is a lot further than that. So," he changed the topic and turned to face her. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, I have exams tomorrow, just thought I'd get some fresh air before I lock myself up to study."

"Ah, that must be tough. Don't you just wish that you could go somewhere where you didn't have to study?"

"Not really. I rather like exams." Realising she sounded like a complete nerd, she hurriedly corrected herself. "I mean, it's just that I don't worry too much about exams they're not that bad."

"Hmm…" He looked at her thoughtfully. "But surely sometimes the pressure gets to you and you just wish that you could escape to somewhere else?"

Elspeth snorted. "What good is wishing going to do? If you want something, you have to get it for yourself, wishing isn't going to do anything."

"I couldn't agree more…" He suddenly scooted closer to her.

Elspeth backed away until she was on the edge of the bench and risked falling off. "Um, I didn't quite catch your name." She said nervously.

"It's Jerrin." He said dismissively as he caught her face in his hand.

Elspeth was quite alarmed, she had heard about guys that preyed on high school girls but she didn't realise they would be this forward.

"Look, Jerrin, I-" She was cut off at the sound of her mobile ringing. She scrambled off the seat. "Excuse me a minute."

Jerrin frowned.

She picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Elspeth? Elspeth, something's happened!"

"Dad? What's wrong?"

"Elspeth, it's your mother. Look, I'm sorry sweetheart, but she's been in a car accident."  
"A car accident!"

Behind her, Jerrin jerked upright.

"Look she's at St Francis Hospital, do you think you can get here?"

"Yeah, I'll take my bike. Is-is she alright?"

"We don't know yet, honey, she was taken straight into surgery."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Bye, honey, ride safely."

"Bye, Dad." She hung up and turned back to the bench.

The strange guy, Jerrin, was nowhere to be seen.

"Ambrosius!" She shouted. "Ambrosius, we're leaving!"


	3. Chapter 3

She did not belong here…

A machine beeped again loudly cutting into Elspeth's thoughts.

Her mother was lying unconscious in a hospital bed. She had just come out of surgery. Elspeth's father had gone to speak to the doctor, but Elspeth had been unable to leave her mother's side. The sterile, white room of a hospital seemed the last place that Sarah, a believer of fairytales, should be.

Looking at her, Sarah did not appear that bad. She had a few bruises and a cut through her right eyebrow, but other than that she looked pale but fine. Elspeth knew that she could not trust her eyes though, she had been in surgery; people who are pale and lightly bruised did not have surgery.

"Elspeth."

She turned towards the door; her father was standing there, grief in his eyes.

Elspeth turned back to her mother. "She's not okay, is she?" She asked softly.

Her father came forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm afraid not."

Elspeth bowed her head and shut her eyes tightly to try to stop the tears from forming.

James pulled up a chair next to her. "The doctor said that there was a lot of internal bleeding, the surgery couldn't help it." James cleared his throat to keep his voice from cracking. "He said there's a chance she might wake up, before…"

Elspeth sobbed.

James hugged her. "Honey, it's okay, somehow it'll be okay…"

An old wizened goblin cringed as a crystal ball shattered against the wall above his head.

"How could you let this happen?" Jerrin raged.

Baklop, the castle steward, cringed even more. "It was an accident, Your Majesty!"

"I know it was an accident! That's why they call it an accident! But why weren't you watching her?"

The goblin hesitated; it was more than his life was worth to admit that he had been taking a brief nap.

"Oh, it doesn't matter!" The young king turned away. "But, I was so close Baklop, so close! I nearly had her within my grasp!"

"But what of the girl? The girl who escaped the labyrinth and grew up? She is mortally wounded. Your father…"

"My father is locked away in eternal slumber!"

"Yes, but you gave him your oath to protect the girl who escaped."

Jerrin kicked at the goblin. "I know that!" He raged. "I will take care of that when the time comes! For now, all we can do is wait…"

All we can do is wait…

That was the unspoken message that Elspeth's father had left her with. He had left momentarily to call his work and tell them he would not be working for a while. James, like Sarah, had been unable to leave his love for fairytale adventures in his childhood and instead decided to become a children's book editor. That was how he and Sarah had first met; he had been the editor of her first book and she had been his first client.

"Elspeth…?" A faint whisper came from the bed.

"Mum!" Elspeth rushed to the side of the bed. "Mum, I'm here!"

"Have you been crying?" Sarah reached up to touch Elspeth's cheek.

"Mum, they told me… They told me…" Elspeth started sobbing.

"Shh… Honey, it's all right. I'll be okay. He may be mad at me, but he won't let me die."

Elspeth looked at her mother. "Who?"

"The goblin king."

Elspeth felt despair, her mother still insisted on trying to tell her fairytales, even to the end. Elspeth gulped and put on a fake smile. "Of course he won't."

"Now don't you go humouring me, Elspeth Fischer!" Sarah arched her eyebrow at her daughter. "I know you've never believed me, but not I'm going to be lying in my sickbed and have you thinking I'm crazy. It happened, Elspeth and that's the way it is." Having said such a long speech had obviously wearied her, and Elspeth noticed her eyelids start to droop.

Elspeth grabbed her hand and started chattering in an attempt to keep her awake. "I wish I could believe you, mum. I wish the goblin king would come and whisk you away right now, and prove me wrong. But that's not how the world works. I wish it was, but it's not."

"Be careful what you wish for…" Sarah whispered as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Mum?" Elspeth gently shook her shoulder. "Mum!"

The lights in the room blinked out.

Elspeth spun around but she couldn't see anything in the sudden darkness. She heard a scuffling in the corner of the room. "Hello? Is someone there?"

"She won't wake." A voice came from the direction of the doorway

Elspeth's eyes became adjusted to the darkness and she managed to make out a figure leaning against the door.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in." She said. "Is there something wrong with the lights?"

"Old building." The voice belonging to the figure was male and somehow familiar. "All the lighting is somewhat temperamental."

Elspeth strode over to the window and opened the curtains, but instead of sunlight, moonlight flowed in. "What on earth…?"

"Tell me Elspeth, what do you fear?"

She turned back to the man leaning against the door. "How did you…?" She trailed off as she recognised the man from the park. "You!"

Jerrin clucked his tongue. "Poor Sarah, after so many years of telling her story, even her own daughter didn't listen."

"What are you doing here?"

"You called me, Elspeth. You wished for my help and so here I am."

"I wished…" Elspeth trailed off and glanced at the bed. The machines had switched off along with the lights; again, she heard a peculiar scuffling coming from the bed. "Mum!" She pulled back the covers to find the bed empty and gasped. "Where is she?" She demanded of the stranger.

"You know very well where she is." He replied calmly.

"What? Who the hell are you?"

"Isn't it obvious, I'm the Goblin King."

"Yeah right!"

"I have something for you, Elspeth." He strode forward.

Elspeth stepped forward as well, standing head to head with him. "I'm not playing around, tell me where she is!"

Jerrin held out his empty hand palm facing upwards. He closed his fist and then opened it; within his palm lay an intricate rose blossom made of crystal. "Don't you want it?"

"I'm not interested in cheap parlour tricks! And for your information, in my mother's story the goblin king, _Jareth,_ offered her a crystal ball not a crystal flower."

"Ah yes, but Jareth was offering Sarah her dreams. I'm offering you your nightmares."

Elspeth felt a chill creep down her spine. "Where is my mum?"

"She's in my castle." He pointed behind her at the window. "There!"

Elspeth slowly turned and glanced behind her. Desert stretched out before her and in the distance she could see walls. "Oh my god! It can't be! The Labyrinth!" Her knees buckled beneath her.

Jerrin came and stood before her clothed entirely in black, his blond hair moved freely in the wind, and he looked every bit the terrifying goblin king. "It is part of the rules of the game, I must give you the choice."

"A choice?" Her voice trembled.

"You can turn back. Return to that empty room. Explain to your father and all the doctors that your mother went to the land of the goblins. Carry on with your life."

Elspeth struggled to her feet. "No! I want her back!"

A clock appeared behind him its hands were both pointed at thirteen. "Very well. You have thirteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth and find your mother. If you do not," Jerrin smiled slowly. "Then your mother will be trapped in eternal sleep and you," He held up the crystal flower. "You will be trapped in your nightmares forever!"

Elspeth gulped. "Why are you doing this?"

Jerrin looked at her smugly and paused. "You were warned to be careful what you wish for…"

"Because it might come true." Elspeth said bitterly.

"Oh no, she warned you because I might be listening." Jerrin started to fade away before her very eyes. "Hurry, Elspeth," his voice echoed. "Tick tock…"


	4. Chapter 4

Elspeth stood in the sandy desert before the labyrinth walls. From this vantage point she could see an overview of the intricate maze. When Jerrin had disappeared she had immediately started her stopwatch. Thirteen hours? Why not a hundred? There was no way she was going to solve the labyrinth except by pure chance, it was far too complicated.

"But mum did it." She whispered to herself. She looked toward the castle in the distance. Her mother was in there, he had said so, but what state was she in? Would she survive the thirteen hours? "I guess there's only one way to find out."

Elspeth approached the walls of the labyrinth carefully. Her mother had told her that it was at the gates of the labyrinth that she met Hoggle, her first friend in the labyrinth.

Elspeth surveyed the area. There was a small fountain with a little stone man with his arms outstretched balancing on one leg on a pedestal in the centre. Small, sick-looking bushes lined the wall; she could see what appeared to be tiny insects flitting through the sparse foliage. Upon closer inspection she realised that they must be fairies, fairies that bite. "Unbelievable!" Elspeth whispered.

She looked around her but she could see no one. "Hello?" She shouted. "Is there a Hoggle around here?" She waited a moment, looking around but hearing no reply. "Of course not, I couldn't be that lucky." She sighed. All of a sudden something hit her in the back of the head. "Ouch!" She looked down to see that it was a small pebble that had hit her. She picked it up and looked around her, but still saw no one. She frowned and turned back to the wall. A couple of minutes later another pebble hit her. "Who is that?" She shouted. She turned and circled around the fountain looking all about, but still saw no one. She tilted her head, looking at the fountain, was it her imagination or had the stone man been standing on his other leg when she first arrived?

Slowly she walked back to where she had been standing and turned so that she could just see the little man's shadow in the corner of her eye. She waited for a while, and it seemed like she must have been mistaken when she saw the shadow slowly lower its leg and draw back its arm preparing to throw something.

"Aha!" Elspeth spun around and threw the pebble she had picked up and hit the statue square in the forehead.

The statue's mouth formed an 'O' of surprise and he stumbled back. He flailed his arms comically as he tipped over the edge of the pedestal and fell into the fountain with a splash. He sat up sputtering and Elspeth saw that he was not in fact a statue, as the stone colour had washed off, and he was in fact a dwarf. "What'd you do that for?" He abused her.

"You did it first!" She countered, hands on hips. "In any case, who are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He sneered and, jumping out of the fountain, started running away from her.

"Hey, wait!" She ran after him and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him up short.

"No fair! You've got longer legs, I should get a handicap!" He complained.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "Are you Hoggle?"

"Me? Hoggle?" He sputtered angrily. "That clumsy wretch? That wart on a goblin's toe? That-"

Elspeth raised an eyebrow. "Are you two related?"

"No! Well, technically… distant cousins on my mother's father's uncle's side. I tried having him disowned but the legal proceedings are too complicated. I'm Biggle," he said proudly, pointing at himself with his thumb. "Not that you matter."

"Right, Biggle. Well anyway, can you show me the door to the labyrinth?"

"What do I look like? A tour guide? Find it yourself! I ain't getting mixed up with no human girl. That's what got Hoggle into trouble!"

"What do you mean? Where is Hoggle?"

Biggle waved his hand dismissively. "Why should I care? He's probably off moaning with the Brotherhood about their long-lost Sarah. Such a dismal group, them, that's why it's much better being alone."

"Where can I find them?"

"I just said-!"

"Look!" Elspeth frowned. "I only have thirteen hours to solve the labyrinth. And you are going to help whether you like it or not otherwise I'll – I'll dump you back in that fountain!"

"Humph! Fine! The Brotherhood live outside the gates of the Goblin city beyond the labyrinth, not that you'll get that far." He gestured at the wall to the labyrinth and two doors, previously unseen, swung open. "Good riddance!" With that the dwarf stomped off.

"Thank you!" Elspeth called after him.

She heard him sneer in response.

Grimacing, she walked through the doors to the labyrinth. Immediately, they slammed shut behind her. "Well…" She sighed. "I guess that's one problem solved." Like her mother had done twenty years before, Elspeth stared both ways down the labyrinth. "Would you go left or right?" She whispered to herself.


End file.
